Doesn't everyone love dolphins? When I was little, the pictures of dolphins in my book for little kids was my favorite page... second was the human body section, etc. Anyway, to the dolphins! They are smarter than they seem, it appears. Want to know what they can do? They can inspect themselves in mirrors (most think it's another animal, but dolphins realize it's themselves), solve problems, learn a simple sign language, teach others tricks (one captive dolphin who learned to tail-walk taught wild dolphins the trick), use tools (sponges on their mouth to protect from spiny fishes), have a sense of self, and more! Their brain size relative to their body size is also apparently second only to humans, and it has the folds that are linked to human intelligence (or something like that).
Wait, it's time for opinion now, right? Erm... coolio! You know, with all those dolphin stories of them saving us and everything, I think that it seems right that they are intelligent. When I was little, I used to see dolphins and orcas in Sea World all the time. We haven't gone to Sea World in a few years now, but we did go a dolphin sight-seeing boat last summer, and our guide did know quite a bit about dolphins. Dolphins can also "ping" you and detect things like what's in your stomach, your heart rate, and detect whether you're happy or anxious or panicking (which is probably how they know to save you if you're in the ocean). They are really playful, but are also really good at doing their stuff (namely, fishing). There was a huge pod (that's what you call a group of dolphins) of what she estimated as more than 100. It was extremely memorable. There were also brochures with facts about dolphins, some being alarming. They are seriously overworked in amusement parks. Did you know that the average dolphin in the wild can live to 50-60 years, whether as the dolphins in the amusement parks usually live only to 20? That's a serious difference. And... well, I don't really want to go into the other stuff I learned from the brochure.
Sunnyd said she'd teach us how to do a special Punnett Square (I can't remember what) I'm excited! Genetics is a cool topic. Scratch that, today is tomorrow and she gave us a packet (you don't have to understand that). Anyway, one last comment: for the "fun with Gregor Mendel" website, isn't there supposed to be 16 possibilities since there is two traits? They only give us four. Anyone able to explain this phenomenon?
PS: I never knew brochure was spelled with a ch!
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